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Police Aviation News 278 June 2019 1

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©Police Aviation Research Issue 278 June 2019


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LAW ENFORCEMENT AFRICA POACHING: The statistics are dire. Less than 4,000 tigers are left in the wild and the western black rhino and northern white rhino are now extinct outside of protected reserves. These animals, and hun-dreds of other species, are victims of poaching – killed for their pelts, horns, tusks, shells, etc. – and sold around the world as trophies, medicine, clothing, jewelery, and exotic meat. Poaching is second only to habitat destruction as a threat to the future of the world’s endangered animal populations, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The “bad guys” are poachers, to be sure, aided by sophisticated trafficking networks. But the guilty also include consumers. The Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism often overflies areas not usually seen from the ground, and can see when there is a problem happening in that area. The helicopter helps in alerting ground teams to problems. Efforts are taking place to combat wildlife crime, from educational campaigns in international airports, to Namibia’s increase in resources earmarked for on-the-ground anti-poaching. At least two countries have added the Airbus Helicopters H125 helicopter to their arsenal in the anti-poaching fight. The Botswana Police Service employs one of four H125s for anti-poaching missions, in addition to their regular law enforcement duties. And Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism em-ploys an H125 to perform game capture, aerial surveys and game counts, and for general park manage-ment. [Airbus Helicopters]

KENYA POLICE AIR WING: The knives remain out for the air police in Kenya. The latest allegation is that a significant weekly allocation of cash (1 million Kenya shillings/£8,000) has been given to Police Air Wing for operations against terrorists and yet the aircraft it has been supposedly paying for have been unavaila-ble for service – mainly grounded for technical reasons. Taxpayers have therefore paid out millions for the police to fly regular missions that simply did not take place. The Mi-17 helicopters used for aerial support to troops have been grounded, yet the money contin-ues to be released for fuel and supplies. The last airworthy Mil was grounded in late April with a tail rotor issue. The matter of the journey funding is now under investigation by police internal affairs and govern-ment departments already looking at aircraft bought without prior government approval or at inflated pric-es. It is claimed that the last purchase of Mill helicopters ended with the police buying second-hand air-frames but paying an as new price. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is said to have revoked the licences of police helicopters as they do not have insurance cover. Insurance cover for the fleet of ten airframes is said to be around £200,000/$250,000. It is also alleged that some of the air-wing aircraft are also flown by officers without valid licences. As if to illustrate that a little media pressure works wonders, the police made sure that the press were on hand at the start of May for the resurrection of one of the grounded airframes. AW139 5Y-DIG, one of the police aircraft that has been grounded since last year at the National Police Airwing took its maiden flight within Nairobi. The Inspector General of Po-lice Hillary Mutyambai visited the Airwing, a move said to be directly prompted by media reports that most of the aircraft were grounded despite the government spending billions of shillings in revamping them. He was accompanied by the Deputy Inspector General of Kenya Police Service Edward Mbugua, the Airwing director Rogers Mbithi other senior officers and journalists for the 45 minutes flight test. [MediaMax]

COVER: Seminole County Sheriff ‘s Office, Florida AS350B3 N176SC hover-taxies from its mobile pad. [PAR]


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CANADA ALBERTA: New Airbus H125 helicopters for the Calgary Police Department air operation have been the subject of much debate among some Calgary councillors. Some say the $11M purchase should go ahead, others disagree. The city issued bid documents last month for the new helicopters to replace the police service’s existing pair of 14-year-old Airbus H120s. Calgary police say their current helicopter technology is “limiting,” and that new and better aircraft are necessary to keep up with regulatory and operational demands. They are for delivery by the end of 2021. City council approved the expenditure last November during 2019 budget deliberations but there have been significant demands to trim the overall budget since thanks mainly to depressed property values in the city. Facing similar economic pressures, Edmonton city council denied a police request last December to cover the cost of replacing one of its helicopters — opting instead to loan EPS the money for the new aircraft on the understanding that it would be paid back. [Post]

EUROPE NETHERLANDS: In just a few days the doors of the PAvCon Europe conference and exhibition will be open. Due to the massively reduced space and short timescale forced upon us by the unexpected move in location from a large hangar to a space limited hotel there has been no space available for some weeks now. Usually bookings are being taken into the final week but so far PAvCon have turned away five poten-tial exhibitors and obliged several others, including Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo to modify their in-volvement to either walking the floor or sponsorship. While there is simply no exhibitor room available, the fact that people will modify their intentions to simply get there continues to speak legions about the worth of the event. Do not get me wrong, I might make the logistics work to get people there but it is the content, the police, the speakers and the exhibitors that are the attraction not anything else. This year the PAvCon Europe Conference will take place 4-5 June 2019 at the Renaissance Hotel, Schiphol East - General Aviation – Amsterdam, Netherlands. The original plans to hold the event in a ca-pacious hangar operated by JetSupport, AEC Air Support BV & Skyline Aviation BV came to nought in mid-April. The physically smaller event is the direct result. There will be police officer only training day at the Netherlands Police facility on Monday 3 June 2019. This will be attended by up to 25 serving TFO officers from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Slove-nia and of course the Netherlands and, thanks to PAvCon funding, facilitated by Lt. Clay Lacey of the Tex-as Department of Public Safety. All these officers will stay over for the main event, an open conference of aviators and an exhibition [somehow we managed to craft 27 spaces] mainly sponsored by Airbus Helicopters, Bell, FLIR and Leo-nardo over Tuesday and Wednesday 4-5 June. Currently police attendees are coming from Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Slovenia, UK and of course the Netherlands

PAN—Police Aviation News is published monthly by POLICE AVIATION RESEARCH, 7 Windmill Close, Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 3BQ UK. Contacts: Main: +44 1992 714162 Cell: +44 7778 296650 Skype: BrynElliott or +44 20 8144 1914 E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected]

Police Aviation Research Airborne Public Safety Association Member since 1994—Corporate Member since 2014

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ROMANIA BORDER ISSUE: On May 9 a dead body was found in the forest near Sapanta, Maramures County; shortly afterwards the remains of an unidentified Kamov Ka-26 was found nearby. The aircraft has no visi-ble registration applied and other identification marks have been removed. It is currently speculated that this was an illegal entry into Romania that went tragically wrong. There are no known Ka-26 helicopter in Romania that might match the wreck found. [ASN] Ed: Nothing too unusual in this except the location. In the same timeframe the police in Guatemala found themselves with a burned out Gulfstream jet on an illegal landing ground at Chico de Chamorro, Re-talhuleu. That aircraft was also unregistered but it was suggested it was formerly N213X a US registered Gulfstream II SP.

UNITED KINGDOM I wonder how long it took to write the latest press release to be allowed through the controlling grip of Wakefield. The dateline on the press release issued by Rubb Buildings is May 2 2019 and yet the news story goes way back in time and borders upon history. “Rubb Group has provided a steel-framed, fabric-clad air-craft for the National Police Air Service. “The aviation structure measures 40.1m-wide x 46.25m-long and features a sliding door measuring 30m-wide x 5m-high. “Additional modular buildings have been fitted to the right and rear of the building and include a number of offices and amenities. Rubb was tasked with ensuring the Rubb hangar connected effectively to the modular structures and that they were correctly positioned to allow a clear viewing area and access to the hangar.

Rubb’s anonymous construction at North Weald [©Rubb]

EXHIBITOR AT PAvCon Europe

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“Rubb worked with the main contractor Kier Services to deliver the hangar for Doncaster NPAS.” Editor: Even as a nearly identical hangar is being built at North Weald by Keir, Rubb have been allowed to notify the world that they built its cousin at Robin Hood Airport in 2017. I guess I will have to reserve space in PAN September 2021 to announce the erection at NPAS North Weald in the 25th year of Police Aviation News! How thoughtful of Wake-field to provide a story for my anniversary year. So I must keep taking the tablets to be around that long. Coincidentally Rubb are advertising and illustrating their current build of the new hangar at North Weald on their website it is just that they do not actually say who the customer might be! Last month I wrote several letters. Early in the month I wrote to the Guardia Civile with a formal invitation to PAvCon, a bank complaining about a local branch closure and to the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner requesting ac-cess to the minutes of the Local Strategic Board which meets quarterly to oversee the performance of the National Police Air Service (NPAS). The board was established to further a publicly stated desire as an elected Police and Crime Commissioner to be “open and transparent about what I'm doing and what I'm spending.” From 2013 until last summer these important minutes were featured as a full public access download on the NPAS website. The more recent editions, June 2018, September 2018, December 2018 and March 2019, have not been posted for public scrutiny. Both the bank and NPAS letters were written on real paper and delivered by the post office. The bank re-plied less than 24 hours after receiving the letter. To date, the police letter written on May 2, went missing for two weeks [although tracked and signed for] ……. Repeated on the 12th… has not been either acknowledged or replied to. Little surprise then that if I cannot learn anything that the NPAS staff have their own troubles in learning what is going on. I get the impression that the whole operation is clamped down and everyone is afraid to ask what the heck is going on! And an unhappy staff leads to difficulties in getting and retaining people. Pilots are special beings these days and there is a world shortage across the emergency services despite a severe downturn in oil and gas. NPAS is struggling to retain those it gets, reports of missions being flown two-up rather than three-up grow ever more persistent.

Another view of the construction in Essex [©Rubb]

SEE US AT PAvCon Europe 2019 IN AMSTERDAM

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UNITED STATES NORTH CAROLINA: The State Highway Patrol unveiled the addition of two new Bell 407 helicopters in late April to assist in the Patrol’s lifesaving mission. The pair of helicopters were on display at an event held at the SHP’s Aviation Unit hanger in Raleigh. The new helicopters are a part of the SHP but the majority of the missions conducted are for agen-cies other than the State Highway Patrol. Year after year, 80%-85% of missions are for local agencies that need help. The unit has mainly relied upon Bell OH58 Kiowa aircraft to pro-vide air support services across the state for many years but ac-quired a single modern Bell 407 [N407NC/53840] in 2008. Last June it lost one of the 40 year old Kiowa’s [N303HP] in a take-off accident at Raleigh. Two crew were injured when it crashed from an altitude of 6 feet, ended up on its side with a broken tail boom.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents as-signed to the Nogales and Tucson sta-tions seized a modified ultralight aircraft and its illicit cargo of nearly $500,000 in methamphetamine and fentanyl, south-east of Tucson late last month. Air and Marine Operations agents moni-toring the border detected an unknown aircraft entering the United States at approximately 11:00 p.m. The agents tracked the aircraft and directed U.S. Border Patrol units under its path to an improvised landing site south of Tucson. The aircraft was found abandoned on a rural dirt road, with two large plastic storage containers fixed to the fuselage. They contained methamphetamines, 143lbs of meth and over 200 grams of fentanyl. Despite air and ground search-es the pilot was not found.


One of the new State Patrol Bell 407s at Raleigh. [©NCSP]

©Tucson BP

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AIR AMBULANCE AUSTRALIA MELBOURNE: It is not a new story, PAN ran an outline of it several years ago, one of the State of Vic-toria's worst planning bungles is again haunting Melbourne City Council as the developer of an apartment tower is suing for $7.5M in damages. Four years ago the council approved a modest 15 storey tower block without realising that it stood in the flight path of helicopters landing at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The developer Obiter Investment was forced to remove three storeys from the development, the council made was obliged to apologise to the health department for not considering the helicopter emergency landing zone and the state government made changes to the planning rules protecting hospitals from en-croaching development. In the Supreme Court, Obiter, the owner and developer of the property in North Melbourne, is seeking damages for losses it suffered after the bungle. The construction of the building was delayed by 15 months, which resulted in an inflation in the construction costs, the redesign work cost a further $276,555 and that in turn added a million dollars in extra sales costs, $3.1M in construction costs, another $1.1M in finance expenses. It is estimated that the whole bill faced by Melbourne City Council may reach $9M. In 2016 the developer and Department of Health applied for, and were awarded, costs.

CANADA ONTARIO: Larger air ambulance helicopters were creating a safety concern in the neighbourhood around the Bowmanville hospital. Now Lakeridge Health wants a temporary landing spot closer to the Bowmanville hospital than the Oshawa Airport. There was a landing that caused some damage and an injury so Ornge decided to stop landing at Bow-manville. It was a minor injury, but upsetting enough for action to be taken. When Ornge began using new larger helicopters the stronger downdraught made the problem worse. For 25 years, the neighbours were fine with helicopters but the limit was crossed when larger craft appeared. Currently, patients who need air ambulance service at Bowmanville hospital are transferred by land ambu-lance to the Oshawa Airport and airlifted to a larger hospital. To create a new helipad closer to the Bowmanville hospital but not on the hospital grounds, the site being considered is beside the Bowmanville Garden Allotments. The organizers of the volunteer-run community garden said they have been told they can plant this season, but might have to move next year.

http://www.helimetrics.com


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Last month Bell, the helicopter manufacturer, ran an Air Medical Services training course in cooperation with Shaanxi Helicopter Co. Ltd., and Shaanxi Provincial Peo-ple's Hospital. The exercise is an initial step toward developing air medi-cal capability for the implementation of a programme for medical rescue launched earlier this year by the National Health Commission of China and the Civil Aviation Au-thority of China (CAAC). “Together with SHC, we are excited to be leading the de-velopment of an Air Medical Services network in China,” said Jacinto Monge, Bell Managing Director for North Asia. "During the two-week event, expertise on best prac-tices was shared through academic seminars and practical training using real-life simulations." With the support from Med-Trans Corporation, a leading US air medical service company, more than 50 people from Shaanxi Helicopter and the People’s Hospital participated in the exercise which covered avia-tion safety practices and culture, functions and responsibilities for medical transport, flight planning and decision making, crew resource management and flight physiology. In addition, an introduction to the cross-functional coordination among emergency response, medical care, dispatch and aviation was pro-vided to create a safe and effective air medical network solution for China. Ed: Some of the Bell team will be at this years PAvCon Europe Conference.


Bell 407GXP is the backdrop for the training course un-dertaken last month by a Bell team in Shaanxi [©Bell]

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EUROPE GERMAN AIR RESCUE: Last year medical air res-cue provided by DRF Luftrettung (German Air Rescue) were called out 40,090 times which corresponds to a 4% rise in air rescue missions over the previous year. The night flight expertise of DRF Luftrettung was in partic-ular demand: the number of night missions rose by an im-mense 20%. With ten locations, DRF Luftrettung operates the most 24hr stations in Germany. Throughout Europe, it has the greatest experience in night-time air rescue mis-sions, with the highest number of hours flown. DRF Luftrettung operates a total of 31 HEMS bases in Germany and Austria. The crews of the helicopters are on stand-by daily to react to rapid emergency rescue mis-sions and the urgent transportation needs of intensive care patients be-tween clinics. In addition, two ambulance aircraft are also available for dispatch 24/7 for repatriation of patients on a global scale. The DRF Luftrettung’s ambulance jet aircraft are manned with experienced crews and are essentially flying ICUs. They were alerted for 300 missions and dispatched to 48 countries in 2018.

IMRUA CONGRESS: In late April the motorcycle paramedics from Slovenia, organised the 6th Inter-national IMRUA Congress (International Fire and EMS Motorcycle Response Unit Association). The Congress is primarily aimed at EMTs, nurses, paramedics, doctors and firefighters who use motorcy-cles in their work from all over the world. The event commenced with activities in Budapest, Hungary, that marked the 10th anniversary of the formation of IMRUA before attending the main event. Although primarily of two wheeled event there was time for the running of a hostage rescue demonstration for the benefit of the IMRUA congress carried out the by the Slovenian Police. Slovenian SWAT and the air ambu-lance in their Bell 412.

Bell 412 with a backdrop of the medical motorcycles [©via BB]

©DRF


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SWITZERLAND REGA: Rega held its Annual Media Conference and presented a new type of aircraft for searching for missing persons: the newly developed Rega drone can autonomously scan large search areas and is equipped with various sensors, such as a thermal camera. In future the drone will offer an additional re-source to help it search for people in distress. Over the last year and a half, Rega has been working on its drone project. But, with further testing re-quired, it will be next year before it can be expected to enter everyday service. There is currently no drone system on the market that meets all of Rega’s requirements. In particular, it is not possible to operate a relatively small, lightweight and flexible drone over a distance of several kilometres and for several hours without visual contact with the drone pilot. As a result, this is a Rega drone developed in collaboration with partners. The Rega drone has three rotor blades and a rotor diameter of just over two metres. During a search mis-sion, it flies at an altitude of 80-100 metres above ground level and, using satellite navigation, it scans large search areas precisely and autonomously following a predefined flight path. Rega claim that it is able to “independently” detect and avoid other aircraft or obstacles, such as helicopters and overhead cables thanks to anti-collision systems and typographical data stored in the drone’s in-flight computer. This is not autonomous flight and the drone is not to be deployed over densely populated regions or in the vicinity of airports or airfields. In addition, it is equipped with an emergency recovery parachute. On board sensors employed to locate missing persons from the air include EO/IR cameras that are linked in real-time on board the drone with the aid of a self-learning algorithm. This software is being developed in collaboration with the ETH Zurich. If, based on the pixel pattern of the images, the algorithm “presumes” to have located a person, the drone immediately relays this information to the operator on the ground. It is also planned to use an integrated mobile phone tracking function to search for injured or ill persons. This allows the Rega drone to locate a mobile phone in an uninhabited area from a distance of several hundred metres and thus most probably also find its owner. The prototype of this device is currently being trialled in collaboration with the police, who are responsible for emergency searches for missing persons.

UNITED STATES ARIZONA: Guardian Flight, a Global Medical Response company, has purchased Sunrise Air Ambulance and its four air medical transport bases in Arizona. The Sunrise acquisition brings Guardian Flight's total dedicated Arizona air medical aircraft to nine including bases in Chinle, Kayenta, Window Rock and Yuma. Sunrise, headquartered in Show Low, Ariz., has a fixed wing and a rotor wing operation there and fixed wing operations in Springerville and Safford. The Sunrise acquisition brings Guardian Flight's total dedi-cated Arizona air medical aircraft to nine including bases in Chinle, Kayenta, Window Rock and Yuma. Guardian Flight, an Air Medical Group Holdings (AMGH) company, operates a fleet of approximately 85 fixed and rotor wing aircraft dedicated to air medical flights in the Upper Midwest, Mountain West, South-west, Alaska, and Hawaii. Guardian Flight has approximately 750 professional staff, including clinical pro-viders, pilots, mechanics, trained communicators, and support staff. Guardian Flight companies include Eagle Air Med, serving parts of Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah; Hawaii Life Flight in Hawaii; and Guardian Flight in Alaska and Wyoming. Companies also include Gallup Med Flight and MedStar in New Mexico; Valley Med Flight in North Dakota, Michigan, Montana, and Minnesota; Alaska Regional LifeFlight in Alaska; MountainStar AirCare operating in Utah; North Central AirCare in northern Ohio and AeroCare Medical Transport serving in Arizona and New Mexi-co. www.guardianflight.com. FLORIDA: Escambia County, has a new LifeFlight helicopter headquartered at Baptist Hospital in Pen-sacola and serving Pensacola Children’s Hospital. The new aircraft replaced their old, single-engine, EC130 helicopter last month with a new twin-engine helicopter — a light utility Airbus Helicopters EC135 N273AM. [PNJ]


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IOWA: In Decorah Gundersen Health Systems took delivery of a new Airbus Helicopters EC145 N616GL in March. The operation, Gundersen Air, employs a crew of 25 critical care nurses and specially-trained flight para-medics as well as eight pilots based at a new hangar near the Decorah airport. [KWWL Ch7] KENTUCKY: News of Air Methods air ambulance base closures continued into May [see last month]. The company closed two bases in Kentucky, citing low payments from Medicaid and Medicare as a factor. The LifeNet bases in London and Lebanon are now closed with a total of 23 employees at the two bases affected. Many have redeployed to other posts within Air Methods location. The company said it would continue serving those areas with helicopters from other bases in Kentucky – Somerset and Elizabethtown or a different air medical provider. The company has other bases in Mt. Ster-ling, Glasgow and Bedford. The company has closed bases in seven states over April and May but in many cases other providers have aircraft based nearby. In London they are served by PHI Air Medical and Air Evac Lifeteam has heli-copters nearby in Manchester and Corbin. The ambulance service in Marion County consider there is no shortage of air ambulance services available. There are three other bases within 30 miles of Lebanon and dozens of helicopters available across Kentucky. With its current high level of service providers and marginal returns from Medicaid, Medicare and insur-ance many see the business as unsustainable. [INN]

SEARCH & RESCUE On May 11 Bristow Group Inc. announced that the Company has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Bristow intends to use the proceedings to restructure and strengthen its balance sheet and achieve a more sustainable debt profile, while continuing to provide safe, reliable and professional industrial aviation services to its global clients well into the future. All of Bristow's businesses are operating in the ordinary course and are anticipated to continue to do so for the duration of the Chapter 11 process. The Chapter 11 filings pertain to certain of Bristow's legal enti-ties in the United States and two of its Cayman Islands subsidiaries. Other non-U.S. entities, including those holding Bristow's non-U.S. air operating certificates ("AOCs"), are not included in the Chapter 11 filings.


http://www.airbornetechnologies.at


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INDUSTRY For the first time Diamond has delivered aircraft equipped with the Thales Avni capability enabling fully interchangea-ble sensor configurations on both available surveillance platforms to Thales UK. The capability includes two DA42 MPP as well as two DA62 MPPs, each designed and mod-ified to be capable of carrying three different sensor con-figurations. Configuration 1 – Thales Avni Long Range Oblique Pho-tography Sensor (LOROP) standoff reconnaissance capa-bility. The system is operated by the pilot using controls located in the front of the cockpit, including Pointing Angle, Event Marking, Record, etc. as well as System Status feedback to the pilot. Configuration 2 utilises a Thales I-Master SAR and EO/IR Gimballed Turret Sensor System operated by a Tactical Flying Officer (TFO) from rear cockpit using dedicated workstations and controllers. Configuration 3 utilises a Thales Avni WFOV and EO/IR Gimballed Turret Sensor System operated by a TFO from the rear cockpit. The Avni Backbone installed in each aircraft, provides a common architecture enabling each of the sensor configu-rations to be role changed onto each of the aircraft as re-quired to support operational requirements. This approach


Diamond twins [©Thales]

http://www.flir.com


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reduces the number of individual architectures required to support the individual systems and therefore reduces cost and re-configuration turn round time (TRT). The Avni Backbone provides each configuration with common access to: Aircraft Power/ Navigation Data/ Control and Operational Interfaces/ Recorder and the Datalink. The Avni Backbone enables each aircraft to be equipped with an inventory of role change sensor configu-rations. The Avni Backbone also provides an open-architecture solution which will readily allow for tech-nology insertion of new sensing capabilities and support of evolving customer requirements. The Line of Sight Data Link enables data selected by the TFO to be transmitted to the Mobile Ground Re-ceiver Station’s (MGRS) units deployed in the field. This data includes Points of Interest obtained from the Avni WFOV, I Master SAR or the EO/IR gimballed turret. The data link provides a bi-directional TCP/IP-based link which allows video/data/voice to be seamlessly transported between aircraft and ground. Onwards distribution of this data could be provided using a ground-based relay network of one or more nodes, either autonomous unmanned or mobile stations are feasible, and can be offered as an upgrade at a later date, once the user’s operational requirements are realised after an initial capability has been es-tablished. Thales Intelligence Management and Imagery Exploitation [TIMIX] system provides a complete data fu-sion and intelligence management capability that has been integrated with a wide range of ISR assets and is capable of ingesting, storing and retrieving a large number of imagery and data formats ready for ex-traction and distribution when required. TIMIX provides a complete intelligence management capability that can be scaled to match a user’s operational requirements. Numerous TIMIX nodes can be connected by a network infra-structure to provide a complete intelligence data management network. A TIMIX node network can be extended once the user’s operational requirements are realised after an initial capability has been established. www.thalesgroup.com German footwear producer HAIX will be exhibiting at this year’s Emergen-cy Services Show, showcasing its leading range of safety footwear for emergency services professionals on stand L77, NEC Birmingham, 18-19 September 2019. Emergency services professionals are often on their feet for long periods of time, working in all weathers and conditions and need comfortable foot-wear that will protect their feet all day. The Black Eagle Safety 50 Mid is ideal for those working in the police force and rescue services it is lightweight and metal free. The boot’s extra light protective toecap and rubber compound provides agility, durability and strong grip on different terrains. The waterproof boot is designed with a breathable GORETEX® layer and HAIX Climate System. This delivers an excellent foot climate keeping feet fresh and cool, for superior all-day comfort. HAIX has a worldwide reputation of being a brand of choice and websites for most countries and lan-guages are interlinked. For more information about the boots relevant to the show, visit www.haix.co.uk to pick up a link in your own language. Safran Helicopter Engines is actively considering the development of a turboprop version of its Ardiden 3 rotorcraft powerplant to challenge the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 and GE Aviation Catalyst. To date, no airframer has signed up to the project, but Safran indicates that discussions are ongoing. Any production engine would be built "leveraging on the skills of European partners", it says.

Safran will base the design on the Tech-TP demonstrator it is working on as part of the EU's CleanSky 2 programme, says the manufacturer. First ground runs of this engine, which uses an Ardiden 3 gas generator, will take place in the coming months, says Safran. CleanSky 2 presentations identify the Tech-TP programme as being aimed at the development of a new engine for "business aviation or short-range regional [turboprop]" applications. Key technologies identified for research, include a small-sized core, ad-vanced propeller, air inlet and gearbox. Safran is working with several part-ners on the project, including two sister divisions - transmission systems and aerostructures - who are major suppliers for the power and accessory gear-box, and nacelle and air intake, as well as Germany's MT-Propeller. Safran has yet to indicate how many of the 24 suppliers may be retained for

the new programme. Under EU rules, the Tech-TP can be taken to technology readiness level 6 and must deliver significant


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reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and noise against a 2000 baseline. Ardiden 3 engines are in the 1,700-2,000shp (1,270-1,490kW) power range. Two variants – the 3C and 3G – are certificated in Europe. [Flight] Air BP, the international aviation fuel products and services supplier, is expanding its business in the UK air ambulance charities sector. In April, Air BP celebrated six months with its most recent emergency services contract signing, the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC). Air BP was selected as the new fuel supplier. This latest cus-tomer complements Air BP’s other air ambulance charity customers including Wales Air Ambulance Chari-ty (WAAC) and Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA). Since October 2018, Air BP has provided Jet A-1 fuelling services for GWAAC’s Airbus EC135 at its new Almondsbury, South Gloucester base in the UK. The contract to supply GWAAC builds on the strength of Air BP’s successful five-year relationship with the National Police Air Service (NPAS), which is co-located with GWAAC at its South Gloucestershire base. Anna Perry, GWAAC chief executive explains: “We were impressed with the reliable service that Air BP has been providing to the NPAS. We knew that Air BP would provide a reliable service to us, delivering fuel just when we need it to make sure we never have excess nor run out. With GWAAC handling over five missions a day on average, we cannot afford downtime whilst we wait for fuel. I am pleased to report that we’ve received excellent service from Air BP to date.” Air BP also supplies Jet A-1 to support the four Wales AA helicopters at three of its four locations across Wales including Cardiff, Caernarfon and Dafen. The two Yorkshire AA Airbus H145 helicopters located at Nostell Priory and RAF Topcliffe are also supported. [AirBP] As announced late last year Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies, Inc. are to combine in an all stock merger of equals to create a global defence technology leader, focused on developing differentiated and mission critical solutions for customers around the world. Under the terms of the merger agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Upon completion of the merger, Harris shareholders will own approximately 54% and L3 shareholders will own approximately 46% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis. The combined company, L3 Harris Technologies, Inc., will be the 6th largest defence company in the US with around 48,000 employees and customers in over 100 countries. L3 Wescam are exhibiting at PAvCon Europe under the original identity, presumably for the last time.


http://www.mirage-usa.com


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The Government of Canada is supporting the development of well-trained, skilled personnel to serve the aerospace industry of the future, by donating surplus Coast Guard assets to colleges and universities across Canada. These donations are helping to support aircraft maintenance training inCanada, providing practical and hands-on experience to students. The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, announced in early May that the Aerospace Centre of Excellence at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, BC, has received a Coast Guard MBB BO105 helicopter. Nine other educational training institu-tions located across Canada have also received a donated BO105 helicopter. The ten helicopters were in service in the Canadian Coast Guard for more than 30 years, the first was pur-chased by the Coast Guard in April 1985, and the last in April 1988. They were used to support icebreak-ing, marine communication, navigation, the environment, conservation and protection. The BO-105 fleet was replaced by 22 new helicopters – 15 Bell 429 and seven Bell 412EPI. [Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region]

Using live video streaming from the scene of accidents and medical emergencies to the dispatch team of a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) has public support and the potential to be rolled out across the UK’s ambulance network , according to the team behind a scientific study. A trial undertaken by Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust evaluated the use of GoodSAM – one of the world's most advanced emergency alerting and dispatching platforms ¬– when assessing casualties at incident scenes. During the pilot study, video footage was received directly from 19 emergency calls, with all of the public making the calls agreeing to live stream via their smartphone to help the people involved in the real-time incident. The study suggests the use of the video streaming also reduces the stress of the person reporting the ac-cident, with video replacing the need for them to make any medical judgements over the scale of the per-son’s injuries, consciousness or state of breathing. The GoodSAM Instant-on-scene function provides HEMS dispatchers with the ability to request people calling the emergency services activate their smartphone video camera and securely stream live footage from the incident direct to the control room. No App is required, only a video-capable mobile phone. Dispatchers secured permission via a text mes-sage and ensured the caller was safe to approach the scene. The technology makes it possible for dispatchers to make an instant-on-scene video connection with the person who has made the emergency call in order to accurately assess the scale of the incident and direct the most appropriate emergency vehicle, in this study an air ambulance. More research is still required to evaluate the critical impact of the video streaming in terms of improving speed and accuracy but our initial findings, based on real-life missions, indicate the technology is very helpful. The results also suggest the public are willing to participate and there is potential for the platform to be used across UK ambulance services. With demand for the PC-12 NG as high as ever, Pilatus sold 80 PC-12 NGs last year. As a result, the PC-12 again claims the title of world’s best-selling single-engine turboprop in its category. One of the reasons behind this success is surely the fact that the PC-12 is one of the safest turboprops ever built, outperform-ing even twin-engine turboprops in this respect. The global PC-12 fleet grew to over 1,650 aircraft in 2018. The PC-12 fleet leader has 34,000 hours in the air, and that with the most landings has more than 46,000! The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine is one of the safest aircraft engines ever built – and a proven engine is an absolute must for a single-engine aircraft. Pilatus opted for the PT6 and has demon-strated that this single-engine is a well thought-through, economical and exceptionally safe option. Statisti-cal data reveals that the safety record of the PC-12 with the PT6 exceeds other single-engine aircraft by far, outperforming even twin-engine turboprops. Keen Interest in the PC-24 Jet has led to the order book being reopened. Pilatus has already handed over 30 PC-24s since the first customer delivery in February 2018. The PC-24 fleet leader, serial number 101, has already flown over 1,100 hours in its first 15 months of operation. The PC-24 fleet as a whole has clocked up over 5,000 hours of safe airborne time – an impressive result for the newly launched business jet that includes three used as medevac aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. Pilatus plans on delivering about 40 PC-24s in 2019, and on stepping up production to 50 aircraft the following year. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have already certified the PC-24 for use on unpaved runways. Work to obtain post-certification for other surfac-


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es, including grass, is currently underway. The PC-24 has also been certified for steep approaches as re-quired for e.g. the approach into London City Airport. The very first PC-24 of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS Central Operations) with serial number 118 arrived in Australia on 29 April 2019. A few days later, the first landings on unpaved strips went ahead in Kingoonya, a small and almost totally abandoned farming settlement in the central outback of the Australian state of South Australia. At EBACE last month Textron Aviation and Babcock Interna-tional were exhibiting the first midsize Cessna Citation Latitude configured for air ambulance oper-ations. The special mission busi-ness jet on display was part of an 11-aircraft order by Babcock Scandinavian Air Ambulance that Textron announced in October 2017. The order supports Babcock’s win-ning contract bid with Air Ambu-lance Services of Norway to pro-vide air ambulance support across the country using the Latitude and 10 Beechcraft King Air 250s that were also configured as air ambulanc-es. It also deepens a relationship with UK-based Babcock, an engineering services company that provides or operates air ambulances and medical crews at 140 bases in nine countries.


©Babcock

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Rocket Route, an attendee at the forthcoming PAvCon Europe are supporting the upcoming D-Day formation flying over the Normandy Beaches. D-Day Squadron is the American contingent participating in the Daks Over Normandy flyover crossing the English Channel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 2019. The epic journey of a fleet of C-47s (military DC-3 aircraft) will honour the soldiers of all na-tions in 1944. https://youtu.be/RV4Uzsd1jF8 Aviation Specialties Unlimited, Inc., (ASU) delivered four prototype helmets to the U.S. Air Force at Nel-lis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. ASU was one of only three finalists selected by the AFWERX Fixed Wing Helmet Challenge in November of 2018. More than 110 companies submitted helmet designs initially in 2018. In October of 2018, the field narrowed to 38 companies and lastly to the final three. The AFWERX helmet prototypes delivered by ASU were designed to address improved comfort, safety, and ease of integration of future technologies. ASU executives have developed, patented, produced, and delivered five separate systems to the military for nearly 40 years. ASU’s Light Aviation Stable Ergonomic Relaxed-Fit or LASER-Fit helmet concept is a collaborative effort with Paraclete Aviation Life Support. The solution proposed to improve the current U.S. Air Force fixed-wing helmet is designed to reduce neck load, improve comfort and stability, reduce neck injury, and seam-lessly integrate with current and future technologies and attachments. Another upcoming PAvCon exhibitor is Logos Technologies LLC., a diversified science, engineering and technology company specialising in the fields of advanced sensors, wide area motion imagery, advanced analytics and processing of large, multi-source datasets. In the US, Logos serves government customers including the Department of Homeland Security, as well as having a range of customers in commercial and international markets. Main focus for Pavcon is the RedKite Wide-Area Motion Imaging (WAMI) system for helicopters, fixed wing and UAVs. This is for persistent surveillance of wide areas when you don’t (yet) know specifically what you are look-ing for, as opposed to the traditional EO systems like FLIR & Wescam (FMV – Full Motion Video systems) which are very narrow field of view for maximum magnification to zoom in on a situation, but suffer from the “soda-straw” effect as regards situational awareness. The WAMI operator can set multiple watchboxes around specific scenes in the area of interest and provide separate video feeds for each to different inci-dent commanders as appropriate eg one for CT, one for crowd control one for traffic monitoring etc. WAMI is also very unique for forensic analysis to backtrack in time and identify and apprehend the complete net-work in criminal or terrorism scenarios. WAMI does not replace FMV, but supplements it and can cue FMV to a specific incident. https://www.logostech.net/products/redkite/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l85cgP7j0s

©EFDC

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ACCIDENTS & INCIDENTS 11 January 2019 Airbus Helicopters AS350B2 N346AE. Air ambulance of Air Evac Lifeteam, O'Fallon, Missouri. The helicopter was damaged after a dynamic rollover occurred while hovering to its hangar at the Ponca City municipal airport, Oklahoma. The flight originated from the primary base of operations lo-cated approximately 1.67 nautical miles east of the airport. The pilot and paramedic were not injured dur-ing the impact. The pilot reported that condensation had begun to form on the windscreen during the short flight to the hangar. In response, the pilot increased the demister to its full open setting; however, after hovering to the hangar he could only see the ground through the left chin bubble. As he was moving from left to right to his intended landing area the right skid touched down and the aircraft quickly rolled over on its right side. [Concern] 11 April 2019 MD Helicopters MD902 N902LC Air ambulance of Cox Air Care, Springfield, Missouri op-erated by Air Methods Corporation. While en route to St. Louis, Missouri carrying a patient from Spring-field, Missouri, the crew noted a thump-like sound. Unable to ascertain what the noise was the pilot made a precautionary landing at an airport on the route. Blood and feathers were found on the lower right hand corner of the co-pilot windscreen and on the rotor pitch casings. No damage was found. [Concern] 13 May 2019 Harbin Z-9 [AS365N] TJ-*** Cameroonian Air Force (CAF) helicopter of the 51st Air Squadron, took off from Air Base 501 at Bamenda to transport three government officials and a police of-ficer and was preparing to land when adverse weather caused it to crash near the town of Oku, killing the police officer. [Janes] 24 May 2019 Cessna 421CGolden Eagle III ZK-TAM Taranaki Air Ambulance (Skywest). The nosewheel of the aircraft failed to fully deploy for landing at Hamilton Airport, North Island, New Zealand and it col-lapsed on landing and the nose settled onto the runway causing some damage. [ASN] 24 May 2019 Mil Mi17 1714 Mexican Navy. Helicopter undertaking fire fighting in support of civilian au-thorities using underslung bucket was transiting to the fire when it crashed into forest and burned at Jalpan de Serra, Queretaro, Mexico killing all six occupants. [ASN]

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UNMANNED Early last month Norway’s Andøya Test Centre selected Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS for exten-sive search and rescue trials as part of the Arctic 2030 project. Andøya is a test range for aerospace- and ship-based applications located on an island in northern Nor-way, a few kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Two years ago, in May 2017, Andøya and Schiebel provided a demonstration of the S-100 to selected governmental organisations and authorities, such as Norwegian Coastguard, Royal Norwegian Navy, Roy-al Norwegian Airforce, Norwegian Coastal Administration, Police Directorate as well as other Norwegian authorities while equipped with L3 Wescams MX-10. At the time Gunnar Jan Olsen, the CEO of the range said he was confident that the great feed-back of the representatives of the local authorities present during the two demo days would lead to the return of the UAS to Norway. The S-100 offers a number of key advantages for naval operations in the Arctic. As a VTOL platform, it does not require any additional start or recovery equipment and its minimal footprint is perfect for offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) with small deck siz-es. The S-100 has an ability to perform well in the harshest weather conditions, flying at temperatures down to -40°C. This has been successfully proven in a series of intensive trials, such as the Canadian icebreaker operations. In this particular case, the CAMCOPTER® S-100 was deployed 60 nautical miles north of Fogo Island, providing a wide-view image of the ice structure as well as identifying the boundaries between flat and rough ice. The goal of the Andøy Municipality project is a demonstration of VTOL UAS use in the Arctic region in an effort to increase maritime safety. The S-100 will be equipped with an EO/IR camera gimbal, an Overwatch Imaging PT-8 Oceanwatch pay-load, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver and a Maritime Broadband Radio (MBR) by Radi-onor. Such a combination of payloads is intended to strengthen emergency preparedness in the region and provide search and rescue mission support. Tests are scheduled to commence in the fall of 2019 with the UAS being deployed from Norwegian Coast Guard vessels in Andfjorden, Northern Norway. More operations are planned in Spitsbergen in the spring of 2020. The Norwegian Coast Guard is a maritime military force which is part of the Royal Norwegian Navy. The coast guard's responsibility are for fisheries inspection, customs enforcement, border control, law enforce-ment, shipping inspection, environmental protection, and search and rescue. [Schiebel/Wikipedia/PAR]

PEOPLE Strange that last month NPAS announced the retirement and departure of two stalwarts of police aviation from Birmingham but were selective in who they mention and when. The departures room at NPAS Tow-ers is as busy as a train station most of the time. It seems that they cannot keep anyone worth their salt for too long, each finally throws in the towel in the face of a very hard management that appears to put more emphasis on sticking together than looking after and respecting their long serving staff. I recently learned that David Howell has left NPAS after 18 years in air support. He and I met long ago when he was flying with a Midlands ASU, I was honoured when he spoke to an international audience at the first of the resurrected Shephard Police Aviation Conferences in 2006. At the time he was a sergeant and the Deputy UEO. An expert user of FLIR equipment, in 2008 he was providing training to the Jamaica Defence Force. We met from time to time as he was promoted to be the Unit Executive Officer at Halfpenny Green as the then Central Counties consortium entered the new system that was NPAS. Central Counties was doomed in the second of far too many rethinks of the NPAS dreams. His tenure in the job had lasted over eleven years. David Howell was ‘looked after’ as he was a positive leader. He was despatched south to take over a similar managerial post at Lippitts Hill. He was the replacement

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for another long-standing officer who finally walked out of running Lippitts Hill for NPAS. There seems to be a pattern there. I thought he was still at Lippitts Hill. I now learn that I was wrong. His five years as Base Manager are suddenly over. The pattern seems to have repeated itself. Although David Howell was a ‘died in the wool’ police aviator for most of his police service he has apparently voluntarily returned to serve his final months of police ser-vice back with Staffordshire Police. Why would he feel obliged to do that so close to the end? He will be a civilian next month. As has been illustrated by the never ending NPAS adverts for new employees, the turnover in good quality pilots is apparently above average. You might expect that simply interesting a pilot in working for NPAS rather than other potential employees would be an achievement to be cherished. We all know there is a world shortage of pilots but it seems NPAS turns them over as if they were easy to get and keep. A good employer can always rely upon on staff that stay, they are the core of the organisation, know their task, and stay on for many years as a result. On the clear evidence that key people are simply not staying with-in the organisation it would appear that NPAS is not a happy ship. Safran Helicopter Engines has appointed Bernard Barussaud as Executive Vice-President Operations. Bernard succeeds François-Xavier Foubert who has been appointed to another position within the Group. Bernard Barussaud (52) joined the Snecma1 engineering department in 1992. From 1995 he fulfilled vari-ous management roles within the manufacturing department -- manufacturing support, fan disk manufac-turing -- before in 2002 being appointed Head of Management Control at the Corbeil plant. Later he served as Head of Services Cost Estimates Department at Snecma Services1. In 2011 he was appointed Director of the Snecma1 Manufacturing Excellence Center for compressor blades. Since 2016, Bernard has served as EVP Manufacturing at Safran Transmissions Systems. Bernard Barussaud is a graduate of Polytech Orléans (1990). In late May Giuseppe Orsi, former chief executive of the Italian state-controlled defence group previously known as Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former head of its helicopter business AgustaWestland, were both cleared of corruption charges. The state prosecutor in the case had asked for the pair to be acquitted citing a lack of sufficient proof. Italy's supreme court acquitted the pair of culpability in a bribery case related to a 2010 helicopter contract with the Indian government. In 2016 an appeals court had found them guilty on corruption charges related to a 560 million euro ($672M) contract to supply a dozen helicopters, giving them prison sentences. In a 2018 retrial and appeal they were acquitted. No further appeal is possible after last months Supreme Courtruling. A separate trial into suspected corruption and money laundering is still open in India and although the con-tract for EH101s was cancelled legally it is just suspended and the subject of international arbitration in Paris. There will be more on this in the coming months. There is a new Chief Executive of Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (AAKSS). A highly experienced leader and Chief Executive with 25 years’ experience in the health and international aid and development sectors, David Welch, will shortly take the reins of the air ambulance charity. An honours graduate in history and economics at Glasgow University, David Welch pursued a successful early career in retail management before switching track to pursue international aid and development work


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including in conflict-torn countries such as Angola, Rwanda and Bosnia. David then led a number of health-related charities in his native Scotland and, most recently, the north of England. He will leave Leeds Cares, relocate to the South East and start his new role with AAKSS on 1 August, taking over from Mi-chael Docherty, who has been the charity’s interim Chief Executive since August 2018 and will now return to the Board as a Trustee. At the lighter end of the spectrum, former Royal Air Force, police and air ambulance pilot, and bane of many ‘superior police’ lives, Tony Cowan MBE, is now a member of the ceremonial armed bodyguard of the Mayor of Durham City. He recently escorted the Mayor, Councillor John Lethbridge to the Skydive Academy at Shotton Airfield, County Durham where the Mayor was to complete a tandem parachute descent to raise funds for the veterans charity, the Royal British Legion. Much to the Mayor's surprise, Cowan, who is also a member of the Civil Air Patrol in the North East of England then changed uniforms to fly the aircraft, a Supervan 900, to 15,000 feet above County Durham so that Councillor Lethbridge could complete his 'charity jump' with parachute instructor, Mick Cosgrove. The owner and chief instructor of the Sky-dive Academy, Ian Rosenvinge, a former member of the Royal Engineers, said, "We were delighted to help the Mayor of Durham City raise funds for the Royal British Le-gion." Note: The Mayor of Durham City is the only mayor in the United Kingdom to have a personal armed bodyguard. The 'Bodyguard, with 15 members armed with halberds, was formed in 1602 when the County Palatine of Durham was ruled by the 'Prince Bishops'.

Durham City Mayor, Councillor John Lethbridge with one of his 'Bodyguard, Tony Cowan MBE and parachute instructor, Mick Cosgrove. [©TC]

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MOVE ALONG THERE Back to the usual problem I am afraid. West Yorkshire Police recently updated the content of its Miscon-duct Pages to include the hearing outcomes of some police personnel of low rank in 2019. The result is yet another instance of news being carefully controlled and focussed away from those who pull the strings of life. There for all to see are the misdeeds of a Police Constable who misused the police computer and was dealt with at a discipline hearing on January 19. Also to be found is the misguided Special Constable who was mixing with the wrong people, she was dealt with at a hearing on February 19. In March two miscre-ants were dealt with on the same day, March 19 – there was the Constable who acted in a coercive and controlling manner towards his female partner and another Constable [Judith Mulligan] who was found guilty of Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice and sentenced to prison in January. The list then leaps to April 19 and a board that that looked into the behavior of another Police Constable who tried to dodge a motoring fine. Step back a bit in time though, some will know that Judith Mulligan did not act alone. The list apparently neatly avoids anyone of a rank greater than inspector and in so doing it also avoids two other notable re-cent cases involving a Detective Chief Inspector and a Chief Superintendent. Although both were sent to prison on the same day, there is no mention of DCI Elizabeth Belton who with PC Judith Mulligan plotted to ensure two burglars were found guilty by placing them in a bogus ID parade. On March 23 there was a hearing that dealt with a certain Chief Superintendent in charge of NPAS who it was alleged was bullying staff in a big way. That is not mentioned. Perhaps there is another page for superior ranking miscreants that includes senior detectives and chief superintendents! Those listed are exclusively the “Federated Ranks” those who are missing are members of the National Police Chief Council. The superiors. Clearly they appear to have a different Hall of Infamy on the Internet so I asked the press office for the NPCC nearly a month ago for guidance. Eventually I had to repeat the process and got the reply. There is no special arrangement, check with West Yorkshire. So I asked the press office in Wakefield and after a nudge they replied: “The details currently available on the Force website concerning misconduct hearing are correct and do not separate federated ranks from others. “Officers subject to public hearings assessed as Gross Misconduct are published on the external website, including the name of the officer and their rank. “These hearings are also open to members of the public and to the media.” In a later message it was suggested that Elizabeth Belton resigned and therefore stopped proceedings. However the absence of detail on the Tyrone Joyce case were neither explained or refuted. Confusing. In his blog long standing investigative journalist and justice campaigner Neil Wilby suggests a clue as to what the well paid NPAS/West Yorkshire Police media department do with their news stories. Wilby states, and who am I to argue, that they only feed stories to local newspapers they can trust to pub-lish what they are given and how it is written. On that basis I refer the readership to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, for future news from Wakefield. [www.neilwilby.com] Wilby and others claimed that the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, Dee Collins, CBE, was retiring when she went off on a ‘Secondment’ to the College of Policing earlier this year. She went as the Director of National Command Course. West Yorkshire police de-nied the retirement and suggested that her departure was temporary and for personal reasons – couched in terms that some thought meant she was ill, she is a cancer survivor. Anyway, they were em-phatic, she was not retiring. Deputy Chief Constable John Robins stepped in as the Temporary Chief Constable. Well the three months, January to March, was up and at the end of April The Dewsbury Reporter formally announced that she had re-tired. Since last January she was gone but the standard line of disin-formation remained in force. John Robins remains in temporary post. That comes across as a pretty standard day in West Yorkshire. For many months now I have been awaiting the sight of a blue and yellow NPAS fixed wing twin orbiting my office with the crew either waving [or more likely, gesticulating] from the cabin to let me know they are

2016 Dee Collins and Tyrone Joyce. [WYP]


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finally up, up and away. No such luck so far, I am assured the P68 cannot carry WMD. Still the fixed wing people from Doncaster are at last undertaking meaningful sorties to the south. They turned up at North Weald seeking information on the new NPAS base at the air-field. They arrived piloting a car, the report did not mention whether it was blue or yellow.

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The authorities at North Weald may need to guard their plastic Hurricane in case it gets daubed with even more extensive areas of blue and yel-low.

Enough of this gloomy stuff about NPAS and West Yorkshire Police, all way too Brexit in flavour. To most international readers the sight of a Reliant motorcar is strange. The fact that Reliant the car man-ufacturers have gone – passed into English folklore – will surprise no-one. Some of their cars [the four wheel ones] were great but it is the iconic three wheelers that endure in the memory. I used to own and drive a three wheeler 1967 Reliant Regal – but not for long. They were a lethal concoction, great at speed in a straight line but not in weather or taking cor-ners. And England has both. So, as far as I can recall, no police force ever contemplat-ed buying one for operational use. Therefore you would rightly expect that painting such a contraption as a police vehicle would be an instant joke. Well it appears that thought is not universal. A Reliant Robin enthusiast pulled over by police was told to stop driving the vehicle he had painstakingly turned into a police car. Graham Robinson, 52, spent seven months and £3,000 giving the three-wheeler motor a new lease of life - including installing a fully functional flashing light and siren. Mr Robinson was stopped by Lancashire Police officers after he took the eye-catching motor out for a ride. Officers told Mr Robinson that he shouldn't use the Reliant for daily use but could take it out for special occasions. He must also take the blue flashing light off when on the road to stop the vehicle from resem-bling a police car. Some police car. While stopped by the traffic cops a number of people stopped to take pictures and the police finally realised it was being done in fun. Mr Robinson, who is an avid motorcyclist, is using the car as a fundraising oppor-tunity to generate money for the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA). And finally… I am not sure I read it correctly but Police Oracle claims that the dis-graced former head of Cheshire Police and also the quickly terminated NPCC Lead on air support Simon Byrne has been selected as the next Northern Ireland Police chief. Four were consideration but it seems that Byrne met the criteria. It’s a strange world that he might even have been put forward for consideration, let alone selected. Some ladies in Cheshire Police HQ may well have a contrary opin-ion on his future. Another instance of strange activity in the corridors of power.

EVENTS 15-20 July 2019 APSCON The 49th Annual Conference & Exposition. CHI Health Center Omaha 455 N 10th St, Omaha, NE 68102, USA. APSCON 2019 in Omaha will continue to set the standard for excellence in the field of public safety aviation. Filled with education and training, APSA will again offer some of the best conference cours-es and classes in our industry, presented by the experts from our industry. The exhibition floor is a great venue to check out the latest, cutting-edge technology for public safety aviation, in addition to providing a great opportunity to visit with peers. Exhibitors will showcase their products and services to aviation unit


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decision-makers and end users, while creating an exceptional learning environment, in one central loca-tion. The event includes much loved social events sponsored by corporate support-ers.www.publicsafetyasviation.org

DIARY 13-15 June 2019 AeroExpo UK/Heli UK Expo, Wycombe Air Park. 'The UK's Private Helicopter Owner and Pilot's Exhibition' The co-located events AeroExpo UK being the UK's premier General Aviation event, new initiatives will be introduced to coming events in the continuing effort to improve and enhance the overall experience. The Heli UK Expo Team will be hosting the 4th Heli Leaders Round Table Discussion next month. The discussion will serve as an opportunity to discuss the industry and current key challeng-es. Events are run by AvBuyer Events AvBuyer House, 34A High Street, Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0RY United Kingdom [email protected] 17-20 June 2019 International Paris Air Show Le Bourget, France. The world's premier and largest event dedicated to the aviation and space industry. ... The 53rd International Paris Air Show will take place from 17 to 23 June 2019 with the trade show on 17-20th. [email protected] 18-20 June 2019 IFSEC International, ExCel London., Europe’s leading integrated security event, to in-teract with the most innovative security equipment, including deep learning analytics, behavioural biomet-rics and smart locks. [email protected] 25-27 June 2019 Coast Guard Capability, Hilton Wembley, Lakeside Way, London. Coast Guard Capa-bility 2019 provides a forum to help the modern coast guard achieve their missions. Modern coast guards are faced with increasingly varied and complex challenges covering a wide range of missions which demand specialist equipment and highly trained personnel. Focusing on the most important and challenging coast guard missions this conference aims to improve inter-agency and international cooperation as well as provide an opportunity to meet with industry leaders providing the next generation of specialist equipment. Join this forum to meet with international col-

http://www.aeroptimo.com

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leagues, discuss current challenges and develop well-defined future propriety areas, as well as share case-studies and take part in the critical discussion for maritime organisations. https://coastguardcapability.iqpc.com/

18 Aug 2019 [Sunday] The 5th World Helicopter Day. This is the fifth year of the event with rolling open days around the globe. Call is out for event locations coming up for this year. Goal is to promote the indus-try in local communities around the world and achieve some PR both locally and internationally for what helicopters (and the people in the industry) do for society. Website: World Helicopter Day - Celebrate Ver-tical Flight! FB: https://www.facebook.com/pg/worldhelicopterday/ #worldhelicopterday

Copyright Notice: The content of this publication includes items that are the copyright of others. The source of words and images will usually be indicated together with the source of additional information that seeks to enhance the original information. Police Aviation News includes materials produced for it by Ian J Commin of Insight Design of North Burnham, Slough SL1 6DS. This includes the banner titles and the PAvCon logo. In addition from time to times images specifically altered by Insight Design and others but originally produced for McAlpine Helicopters [now Eurocopter UK], Oxford, will appear with permission of the orig-inal owner. In some cases it may not be possible to indicate the source of this material directly associated with the images used.

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police aviation news 278 june 2019 1 ©police aviation ... · police aviation news 278 june 2019 4...

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